- Japan: Cherry blossom festival cancelled over badly behaved tourists
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Japanese authorities in a town near Mount Fuji have cancelled this year’s cherry blossom festival, saying a surge in tourist numbers is unmanageable for locals. The influx of tourists to the town of Fujiyoshida has led to chronic traffic congestion and litter, while some residents say they’ve experienced tourists trespassing or defecating in private gardens. The area is a popular destination during spring because Japan’s world-renowned cherry trees are in full bloom, and can be admired with Mount Fuji in the background. But Fujiyoshida’s picturesque scenery threatens ‘the quiet lives of citizens,’ the city’s mayor explained, adding: ‘We have a strong sense of crisis.'” (02/05/26)
- US applications for jobless benefits jump to 231,000 last week, the most in two months
Source: ABC News
“The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week but remains in the same historically low range of the past few years. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 31 rose by 22,000 to 231,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s significantly more than the 211,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast. Applications for unemployment benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. A number of high-profile companies have announced job cuts in the past year, including UPS, Amazon and Dow just last week.” (02/05/26)
- Netherlands: Queen Maxima joins army as a reservist, as “safety can no longer be taken for granted”
Source: CBS News
“The Netherlands’ Queen Maxima has joined her country’s army as a reservist, voicing concern about national security. Maxima, 54, ‘has chosen to register now because our safety can no longer be taken for granted,’ according to a statement released Wednesday by the Dutch royal family, ‘and she, like many others, wants to contribute to that safety.’ After training with the Royal Netherlands Army, the Argentinian-born Dutch queen will be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and ‘like other reservists, she will deploy where needed,’ the royal family’s statement said.” (02/05/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dutch-queen-maxima-joins-army-as-reservist/
- Musk, DOGE staffers will be deposed over USAID dismantling
Source: Independent [UK]
“Elon Musk, leader of the Trump administration’s now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency, must sit for depositions along with senior State Department officials over their role in dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Pointing to findings that Musk had made the decision to break up USAID – one of the world’s largest humanitarian programs – despite lacking formal authority or official approval – District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that there was ‘no alternative’ than for Musk and other officials to provide testimony regarding their decision-making process. The ruling represents a win for a group of anonymous former USAID employees who are suing Musk, DOGE and State Department officials over the closure.” (02/05/26)
- Democrats demand “dramatic changes” for ICE
Source: SFGate
“Democrats are threatening to block funding for the Homeland Security Department when it expires in two weeks unless there are ‘dramatic changes’ and ‘real accountability’ for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and across the country. It’s unclear if the president or enough congressional Republicans will agree to any of the Democrats’ larger demands that the officers unmask and identify themselves, obtain judicial warrants in certain cases and work with local authorities, among other asks. Republicans have already pushed back. House GOP lawmakers are demanding that some of their own priorities be added to the Homeland Security spending bill, including legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on sanctuary cities.” (02/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/the-latest-democrats-demand-dramatic-21335240.php
- Russian standup comic sentenced to almost six years for anti-war jokes
Source: United Press International
“A Moscow court sentenced Russian stand-up comedian Artemy Ostanin to five years and nine months in prison and a $4,000 fine after finding him guilty of telling jokes that incited hatred of Ukraine war veterans with life-changing injuries and insulted Christians’ faith. Ostanin was sentenced on Wednesday for on-stage routines alleged to have included gags featuring a ‘legless skateboarder’ in connection with the war in Ukraine and an imagined conversation with Jesus Christ in which Jesus relates a story that effectively states he was crucified for exposing the truth. The prosecution alleged the slurs, which were allegedly made during two shows in early 2025, were part of a systematic effort and that Ostanin had formed an “organized criminal group” for the express purpose of writing and performing the material.” (02/05/26)
- Slotkin rejects DOJ request for interview on Democrats’ video about illegal orders
Source: SFGate
“Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is refusing to voluntarily comply with a Justice Department investigation into a video she organized urging U.S. military members to resist ‘illegal orders’ — escalating a dispute that President Donald Trump has publicly pushed. In letters first obtained by The Associated Press, Slotkin’s lawyer informed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro that the senator would not agree to a voluntary interview about the video. Slotkin’s legal team also requested that Pirro preserve all documents related to the matter for ‘anticipated litigation.’ Slotkin’s lawyer separately wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, declining to sit for an FBI interview about the video and urging her to immediately terminate any inquiry.” (02/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/slotkin-rejects-justice-department-request-for-21335243.php
- Palestine: Israeli security service chief’s brother is accused of smuggling cigarettes into Gaza
Source: Seattle Times
“An Israeli court on Thursday indicted a brother of the chief of Israel’s security service for smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes into war-ravaged Gaza Strip at a time when getting aid into the territory was difficult and many Palestinians were going hungry. The indictment of Bezalel Zini is the latest in a burgeoning scandal implicating more than a dozen people, many of them Israeli reserve soldiers, of personally profiting from the Israel-Hamas war and delivering goods into Gaza that could potentially benefit the militant group. His brother, Shin Bet chief David Zini, has not been implicated in the scandal.” (02/05/26)
- MD: Baltimore’s progressive mayor calls reporter “racist”
Source: Fox News
“Brandon Scott, the Democratic mayor of Baltimore, is facing questions about the taxpayer funds he uses for his transportation as well as social media pushback over a press conference where he suggested racism was a factor. Scott, a progressive who has served as mayor since 2020, is facing pressure over a Fox Baltimore report showing his primary vehicle, a 2025 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, is the most expensive government-issued vehicle operated by any mayor, governor, county executive or county commissioner in the state, costing taxpayers $163,495. Scott has responded to the report, which claims his SUV costs nearly twice as much as the next most expensive taxpayer vehicle in the state, by pointing to the cost of President Donald Trump’s ‘Beast’ vehicle, arguing that inflation is not being factored in and suggesting politics are at play.” (02/05/25)
- Lights back on in eastern Cuba after widespread blackout
Source: Yahoo! News
“Power was restored Thursday to eastern Cuba after an electricity grid failure plunged three provinces and part of a fourth into darkness the previous evening, authorities said. In the early hours of Thursday, the provinces of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo ‘were synchronized to the national power grid,’ said Felix Estrada of the ministry of energy and mines said on state television. He added that scheduled power cuts however remain in place in the four provinces despite the reconnection, due to the country’s ‘capacity deficit’ beyond the latest outage, which left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.” (02/05/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/lights-back-eastern-cuba-widespread-154111958.html?guccounter=1
- Europe’s central bank maintains interest rate with economic growth resilient
Source: SFGate
“The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday as the economy in the 21 countries that use the euro chugs past the disruption from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs with growth modest, yet resilient. The bank left its benchmark deposit rate at 2%, where it has been since June. after a series of cuts from the peak of 4% starting in mid-2024. The reduced rate has been low enough to re-start mortgage lending for home sales and new construction due to reduced credit costs, boosting growth. Low unemployment is also contributing to demand for goods by consumers and helping keep the economy resilient without the stimulus of further rate cuts. As a result, the chief monetary authority for the eurozone may leave its rates unchanged into 2027, analysts say. The eurozone grew a stronger than expected 0.3% in the last three months of 2025, and may reach growth of 1.3% for all of this year, according to forecasts by Berenberg bank.” (02/05/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/europe-s-central-bank-maintains-interest-rate-21335244.php
- France: Police arrest two Chinese citizens over alleged attempt to access military data
Source: Politico
“Prosecutors in Paris opened an investigation Wednesday into allegations that Chinese citizens had sought to capture sensitive French government and military data using Starlink. … The prosecutor’s office said police had been notified last week that the arrested pair were suspected of conducting satellite interception operations from an AirBnB they had rented in the Gironde region, near the city of Bordeaux, after neighbors noticed that ‘a satellite dish approximately two meters in diameter’ had been installed and local residents were experiencing internet outages. ‘The device installed was used to illegally intercept satellite downlinks, including exchanges between military entities of vital importance,’ the statement added.” (02/04/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-police-arrest-2-china-citizen-access-military-data-starlink/
- GOP firebrand urges Trump agencies to claw back massive taxpayer benefits paid out to immigrants
Source: Fox News
“Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is urging key agencies in the Trump administration to recoup what he believes could amount to billions in Medicaid, SNAP and education expenses paid out to immigrants on the American taxpayer’s dime. Banks, a first-term senator and conservative firebrand, argues that by law the sponsors of legal immigrants to the U.S. are required to reimburse the government for any welfare benefits used by their sponsee. Though written in law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, Banks said this has by and large not been carried out. Under the Trump administration, however, he believes that can finally change. In a letter sent on Wednesday to the secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the commissioners of the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration, Banks asked the agencies to hold immigrant sponsors accountable and refund American taxpayers.” (02/05/25)
- The Lessons of Kent State
Source: Mother Jones
by Lawrence Roberts“The basic facts of the tragedy at Kent State University are well-known. Shortly after noon on May 4, 1970, twenty-eight soldiers kneeled on a grassy knoll and fired more than sixty rounds in thirteen seconds into a crowd of students, most of whom were there to protest the expansion of the Vietnam war. They killed four and wounded nine, including [Thomas] Grace, a sophomore history major who was shot through his left heel. The circumstances back then, of course, differed substantially from the deadly recent events in Minneapolis. Yet for those of us who came of age in that era, for whom the Ohio tragedy is seared into our memories as a critical turning point during a time of national crisis, the striking parallels are impossible to ignore …” (02/05/26)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/02/the-lessons-of-kent-state/
- Europe’s future pivots on a Hungarian election
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“A recent rise in anti-corruption movements in Europe has upended politics from Serbia to Bulgaria to Romania. Now, one of the continent’s most entrenched leaders, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, faces a serious challenge this April in a parliamentary election that could be determined by what one commentator calls a public ‘yearning for integrity’. For the European Union, too, the stakes in the election are high. Mr. Orbán and his ruling populist conservative party, Fidesz, have often obstructed the 27-member bloc in helping Ukraine and countering Russia. The EU has also held back funds for Budapest over its shrinking rule of law. After nearly 16 years in power, Mr. Orbán has left Hungary with the lowest household living standards in the EU. The country of 9.6 million people has experienced three years of economic stagnation.” (02/03/25)
- The System Is Working Exactly As Intended
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“There are, broadly speaking, two different types of people who are calling attention to the Epstein files right now: (A) those who hope the revelations lead to high-level prosecutions and major institutional changes in the US government, and (B) those who know this will never happen but hope the revelations will help radicalize people toward truly revolutionary politics. Those in category (A) believe the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Those in category (B) understand that the system is working exactly as intended and needs to be destroyed.” (02/05/25)
- Historical Perspective on the Unitary Executive
Source: Law & Liberty
by George Liebmann“Anyone reading the briefs and transcript of oral argument in the recent Slaughter case involving the president’s power to remove members of independent regulatory agencies can only be amazed at the lack of historical perspective of all the major actors, including counsel. All treat Article II of the Constitution as a perfect model of executive unity, the only issue being how far its powers extend. In truth, the drafting and history of Article II show that there have always been reservations with and limits to the unitary character of the executive branch.” (02/05/26)
https://lawliberty.org/historical-perspective-on-the-unitary-executive/
- To Stand Against US Aggression, the World Must Rise for Cuba
Source: Common Dreams
by Cabinet of the Progressive International“We will not mince words. The ‘policy’ of the Trump administration is a total siege: a modern mechanism for collective punishment designed to strangle life itself by cutting off fuel for hospitals, schools, water, transport, and food distribution. Cuba already faces severe fuel shortages, with blackouts stretching daily and essential services collapsing under the weight of sanctions and depleted imports. Cuba’s remaining oil stocks could run out in mere weeks, threatening the lives of millions who have done nothing to justify this escalation. This is the culmination of a long-standing strategy articulated in US law — from the expansive embargo codified by the Helms–Burton Act in the 1990s to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations first enforced in the 1960s — that openly sought to apply ‘maximum pressure’ to force political transformation in Havana and defeat a vanguard in the struggle against the US’s hemispheric domination.” (02/05/25)
- Theocrats, Socialists, and the Totalitarian Impulse to Plan
Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein“Attempts to impose a specific moral order on complex societies require coercion. Whether religious or secular, power undermines liberty.” (02/05/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/theocrats-socialists-and-the-totalitarian-impulse-to-plan/
- Iran is Trump’s Israeli Influence Test
Source: The American Conservative
by Andrew Day“Here we go again. President Donald Trump says he wants to make a deal with Iran and avoid war. And he’s sending negotiators to Oman for talks with Iranian diplomats on Friday. Sound familiar? Ahead of scheduled U.S.–Iranian talks in Oman last June, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, instigating a war that Trump later briefly joined with a bombing raid on Tehran’s main nuclear facilities. Not quite eight months later, the world anxiously waits to see if recent history will repeat itself, this time with America leading the charge. Israel, of course, is worried that Trump won’t attack. ‘It’s really the Israelis who want a strike,’ a U.S. official told Axios. ‘The president is just not there.’ If Trump strikes Iran rather than negotiating a deal, that will mean Israel got its way.” (02/05/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/iran-is-trumps-israeli-influence-test/
- Could Donald Trump Save the Federal Reserve?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mani Basharzad“Few macroeconomists have been as influential over the past half century as Robert Lucas. He won the Nobel Prize in economics, and his famous Lucas critique reshaped macroeconomic thinking. In his Presidential Address to the American Economic Association, he declared that the ‘central problem of depression prevention has been solved.’ Five years later, the 2008 financial crisis struck. For a long time, many economists believed that double-digit inflation belonged to history. The Covid era proved them wrong. Recessions and high inflation remain real dangers, not relics of the past. That is precisely why Kevin Warsh, Trump’s nominee for the next Federal Reserve chair, is exactly what the Fed needs. He understands how the system works and, more importantly, what is fundamentally wrong with it.” (02/05/26)
https://fee.org/articles/could-donald-trump-save-the-federal-reserve/
- Mass Deportation: Who Was More “Inhumane,” Obama or Trump?
Source: Town Hall
by Larry Elder“Those who claim President Barack Obama deported illegal aliens more ‘humanely’ make the following assertions: a) ICE didn’t go into the streets under Obama; b) there were no street activists/protesters/agitators; c) ICE only deported those with criminal records beyond illegal entry or illegally overstaying; d) Obama’s deportation numbers largely include ‘returns’ or those deported at the border; e) the Obama administration did not engage in ‘lawlessness;’ and f) ICE and/or Customs and Border Patrol arrested only illegal aliens after first securing a judicial warrant. As for a), under Obama, ICE did go into the streets, including into the interior and into ‘sanctuary’ cities like Chicago. Watch ‘Lost in Detention,’ a 2011 episode of the PBS ‘Frontline’ program, where, for example, an illegal alien mother stopped in Illinois for making an illegal lane change was ultimately deported back to Mexico.” [editor’s note: I’m not sure who Elder is arguing with here. I’ve never heard any immigration freedom advocated defend Obama on the subject – TLK] (02/05/25)
- Senators should ask Trump’s Fed nominee these tough questions
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru“Before confirming him to one of the most critical jobs in government — chairman of the Federal Reserve — senators should ask Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee, these questions …” (02/05/26)
- A deal that Cuba (and Trump) cannot refuse?
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Lee Schlenker“The US president wants to talk and so does Havana. They both have things the other needs and we all want to avoid a hostile overthrow.” (02/05/26)
- Trump’s Board of Peace Is a Dystopia in Motion
Source: Antiwar.com
by Julia Norman“While the sheer pomposity, Trumpian megalomania, and painfully paradoxical context surrounding the so-called ‘Board of Peace’ (BoP) might tempt some to dismiss it as mere spectacle or farce, its criminal, inhumane, and hegemonic nature makes it far too dangerous to ignore.” (02/05/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/julia_norman/2026/02/04/trumps-board-of-peace-is-a-dystopia-in-motion/
- DOGE Lives On Through Russell Vought
Source: The American Prospect
by Kenny Stancil, Julian Scoffield, & Chris Lewis“The Revolving Door Project recently published a comprehensive accounting of Trump 2.0’s deadly rampage across the federal government. ‘DOGE: From Meme to Government Erosion Machine’ is a nearly 70-page audit of the Department of Government Efficiency’s origins, architects, and scorched-earth [sic] campaign against the federal government’s public-interest responsibilities. More than a timeline of DOGE’s infiltration of the Treasury Department, Environmental Protection Agency, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to name a few of the agencies covered, the report details how former shadow president Elon Musk and current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought ‘eagerly shred political, professional, and legal precedent in their effort to dismantle the essential functions of the federal government (and most importantly, democracy [sic] at large).'” (02/05/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/02/05/doge-russell-vought-elon-musk-office-management-budget/
- The Vain Struggle to Curb Congressional Stock Trading
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen“With no external enforcement, functional forbearance, and vested interests at play, an outright ban seems unlikely, perpetuating a system where public polls scream for accountability, but Capitol Hill remains defiantly inert.” (02/05/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-vain-struggle-to-curb-congressional-stock-trading
- The Unstoppable Kill Switch
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Fifty-seven Republicans in Congress worked with the bulk of Democrats, and the President of These United States, to continue funding development of a ‘kill switch’ on new cars. On Tuesday, the bill became law. You may have thought that most new cars driving down the road could already be switched ‘off’ remotely. After all, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by former President Joe Biden, required the National Traffic Safety Administration to develop just such a technology … But government isn’t fast, and the kill switch project ‘needed’ more funding, which was included in the new $1.2 trillion spending package.” (02/05/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/02/05/the-unstoppable-kill-switch/
- The Techno-Authoritarian Blueprint for America, part 2
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“In April 2007, a relatively unknown fellow going by the pen name of Mencius Moldbug started a new blog. ‘The other day I was tinkering around in my garage and I decided to build a new ideology,’ he writes. (A Formalist Manifesto, Unqualified Reservations, Apr. 24, 2007) But the new theory he created was ideological dynamite. It has become the favored ideology of the New Right. But it did not spring wholesale out of nothing. In his formalist manifesto he writes favorably of libertarianism, particularly the Rothbardian version. ‘I love libertarians to death,” he writes. “I would love to live in a libertarian society. The question is: is there a path from here to there?’ But as Yarvin told Ava Kofman for a recent essay at The New Yorker, he moved on from libertarianism after reading Hoppe’s Democracy: The God That Failed.” (02/04/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-techno-authoritarian-blueprint-for_4.html
- Justice Jackson removed any shred of impartiality by applauding anti-ICE speeches at the Grammys
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine“Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson continues to dismay. Her attendance at the rancidly partisan anti-ICE Grammy Awards on Sunday was a joke. The 55-year-old Biden DEI candidate was nominated for a Grammy for narrating the audiobook of her memoir ‘Lovely One,’ which she unashamedly believes herself to be. But she should have stayed home rather than laughing and clapping in the audience with a bunch of virtue-signaling luvvies ranting ‘Fuck ICE’ every time they got on stage. It should have been obvious to Jackson that the event would be politically charged. She has to sit in judgment on various Trump administration immigration enforcement cases. How can she be seen as impartial? Answer is: she can’t …” [editor’s note: When sitting in judgment on the actions of a violent and unconstitutional street gang, “impartiality” is irrelevant; SCOTUS’s portfolio precludes support for ICE – TLK] (02/05/25)
- Is Sprawl a Market Outcome?
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer“For critics — particularly on the left — sprawl represents environmental waste, excessive consumption, car dependence, and the aesthetic or cultural vulgarity of mass suburbia. For conservatives, sprawl is not a pathology but a feature: quiet neighborhoods, good schools, and safe places to raise families. Libertarians tend to avoid the culture war surrounding sprawl, but there has nonetheless been internal disagreement over its merits. It usually turns on a single question: is sprawl a market outcome, or the result of government social engineering? The honest answer is: both.” (02/04/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/02/04/is-sprawl-a-market-outcome/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 02/05/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US and Russia ‘No Longer Bound’ by New START, Israel Kills 23 in Gaza, Including 7 Kids, and More.” (02/05/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 418
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Francesca Mormanni on Ayn Rand, music, Taylor Swift, Eminem, and life at Julliard.” (02/04/26)
https://rumble.com/v75awls-ff-418-francesca-mormanni-on-ayn-rand-music-and-julliard.html
- Anarcho Agenda, episode 145
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“On episode 145 of Anarcho Agenda, I give a brief update regarding my life in New Hampshire, and discuss issues relating to blindness and the libertarian movement here.” (02/04/26)
https://anarchoagenda.libsyn.com/anarcho-agenda-ep-145-2026-02-04